Who was actually the better commander of the Decepticons for G1, Megatron or Shockwave? For years Megatron tried to defeat the Autobots and rule Cybertron, and everything else for that matter, but failed. When he left Shockwave in charge of Cybertron while he and his crew followed the Autobots and crashed on Earth, Shockwave managed to lead the Decepticons to drive the Autobots underground and forcing them to fight with gorilla like tactics. Meanwhile Megatron awakins and can't even stop a handfull of Autobots using his best warriors. For some reason in the cartoon they made Shockwave into to much of a pansey. If they would have given him his comic persona I believe ol Megs would have bought the big one during a trip on the space bridge. My conclusion id that Shockwave would have made a much better Decepticon commander than Megatron and would have had a better chance of stopping the Autobots and ruling Cyberton.

Whats your opinion?

 

In the cartoons, despite portraying him like a wuss, I think Shockwave was a more competent leader. As you mentioned Shockwave pushed the Autobots underground on Cybertron forcing them to use hit and run, or guerrilla, tactics. I think if they had given poor Shocky more of an actual personality and followed the comics more, in the cartoon he could've, and would've beaten Megatron and lead the Decepticons to victory over the Autobots. That, however, would not have been as entertaining as Megatron's constant whining.

 

Shocky in both comic continuities was definately a force to be reckoned with... and with the guerilla tactics of the cartoon that the Autobots had to resort to, definately adds credence to his record.

Either way, Shockwave with nothing but cold logic in his mind, and his willingness to get what he wanted, with the power, was defiantely a force to be reconed with...

The only thing that I see as his downfall is that he seemed to truely lack the drive and ardor that Megatron has shown. Megatron would not have lowered and gone to the point of a truce pact like Shocky did in WWI:3.

 

Megatron did worse than force the autobots into the undergound, he forced 'em off the planet. In MTMTE, the narrator states the autobots were nearly defeated. Even on earth, Megs had 'em beat again. It was only because of what Mirage did that stopped them. That and Starscreams betrayal. Megatron was the better leader, but he had the handicap of Starscream. If Shockwave had to deal with Screamer, the autobots would've taken over cybertron.

 

If Shockwave HAD to deal with Starscream (Screamer) he would've reduced him to dust long before the reformatted Megatron (as Galvatron) did.

 

Even without the Screamer factor, Megatron did nearly wipe the autobots out on cybertron and on earth. He had all the autobots best warriors to fight. Shockwave had an old man and a bunch of girls to fight. Nuff said.

 

Don't forget Ultra Magnus and Omega Supreme. Omega wasn't on the Ark therefore he came to Earth later.

 

IIRC in the cartoon most of the Autobots had left Cybertron to look for Energon with only the female Autobots left on Cybertron. So Shockwave was the keeper of a nearly abandoned planet for 4 million years, while Megs took his best Decepticon troops to hunt down and kill the last major contigent of Autobots.

 

Omega left Cybertron to chase the Constructicons.

I don't remember any mention in the cartoon of Ultra Magnus being left on Cybertron to fight.

 

of course shockwave had an easy time with cybertron with prime, and cybertron's best warriors on earth. they were the real threat, the glue that held the autobot army together. anyone could have had an easy time with them gone.

 

Both are potential Decepticon leaders. Leave MEgatron in charge of an army and he will conquer Cybertron in a couple of years.
Leave Shockwave in charge of an army and he wil conquer Cybertron in a couple of years.
The big difference is that Shockwave is pure logic and this would mean that emotion won't affect his decitions. Think in SW as the Decepticon version of Computron, no matter what he will use his brain to win.
So Shockwave could be a better leader.  

 

DID SW do all of that? Alot of time passed that we didn't see between season2 and the movie......Megs coulda overrpowered the bots on Earth and then come back to Cybertron and re-took control there.......I've never seen Shockwave do anything.......phooey!

 

True. If there is a new version of the G1 toon in the future there should be more episode focusing in the conflict in Cybertron too and not only show the Earth events.
Because with footage or not SW did all those things.  

 

Cosign. Megatron had Prime to contend with...not to mention that geeky Starscream's constant meddling.

 

Hey, no disrepect here, but I don't think Optimus Prime was that much of a threat. Before he took his best warriors to Earth, Megatron was on the verge of victory and anhilatiing the Autobots. How many Autobots where originally on the Ark? Not trying to count names, but wasn't it less then 13, maybe even 7 or less? And the Decepticons were fewer maybe equal in numbers, but Megatron wasn't "burdened" by Prime's emotions such as compassion or, dare I say, love.

I'm sure he could've beaten the Autobots and if I recall correctly he WAS close to doing so. In the movie, as mentioned, his troops had retaken Cybertron and forced the Autobots to retreat to The Ark and Autobot City (Metroplex). What turned the tide was Megatron being reformatted into Galvatron and the "birth" of Rodimus Prime.

 

I would say that Optimus Prime was the only threat to Megatron. There was a reason all of the Autobots with him were the best and a reason why Megs never actually beat him in single combat, but for a few times.

As far as the number of Autobots... there was about seventeen original 1984 Autobots that went to Earth with Prime. True that Megs had less men and constantly pushed the Autobots back, but half of the seventeen that Prime had were mini-bots.

But Prime always stood between Megatron and Earth. Even if you take out the factor of Starscream... Megs had his problems. He was overconfident and very egocentric. Of course, Prime also had all of his personal hang ups.

Shockwave really only had a handful of femmes and an old man left behind on Cybertron. Everyone else was off trying to find Energon on other planets.

 

I bet that was fun.

But i think that Shockwave, while seeming to be the better Tactician, definately was not built for front line combat, also, in a Battlefield situation, there is not time to Calculate on what to do next.